His MERCY is SEVERE.
But make no mistake:
He STRIKES that He might HEAL.
I never cease to be amazed by the Word of God! This morning I was reading in Isaiah and suddenly a portion from Chapter 19 jumped off the page in a way that I had never before noticed.
Behold the SEVERE MERCY of our God:
"And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them" (Isaiah 19:22).
He STRIKES that He might HEAL.
Egypt and Assyria - ancient enemies themselves and the oppressors of Israel from Exodus to Exile - will worship the Lord together (vs. 23), offering sacrifices and offerings and keeping their vows to the Lord (vs. 21). "In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance" (vs. 24-25).
In Isaiah 19 the Lord raises up the oppressor. Why? So that Egypt will cry out to Him, so that He will send them a Saviour, Defender, and Deliverer (vs. 20).
When will this take place? "IN THAT DAY" (6 times in Isaiah 19:16-25) - the fulfillment of these prophecies is UNDATED yet INEVITABLE. We who are in Christ experience it in part now within the Kingdom of God. We will experience it fully when our prayers are answered and His Kingdom fully comes. On that Day we will see "a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10).
God's mercy is severe in the same sense that a surgeon's knife must be sharp. His severe mercy confronts us with our sin, leading us to repentance and worship at the foot of the cross, the very altar where Jesus, the final sacrifice for sin, was stricken for our salvation.
"But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago" (Acts 3:18-21).
His MERCY is SEVERE. But make no mistake: He STRIKES that He might HEAL.
Behold the SEVERE MERCY of our God:
"And the LORD will strike Egypt, striking and healing, and they will return to the LORD, and he will listen to their pleas for mercy and heal them" (Isaiah 19:22).
He STRIKES that He might HEAL.
Egypt and Assyria - ancient enemies themselves and the oppressors of Israel from Exodus to Exile - will worship the Lord together (vs. 23), offering sacrifices and offerings and keeping their vows to the Lord (vs. 21). "In that day Israel will be the third with Egypt and Assyria, a blessing in the midst of the earth, whom the LORD of hosts has blessed, saying, "Blessed be Egypt my people, and Assyria the work of my hands, and Israel my inheritance" (vs. 24-25).
In Isaiah 19 the Lord raises up the oppressor. Why? So that Egypt will cry out to Him, so that He will send them a Saviour, Defender, and Deliverer (vs. 20).
When will this take place? "IN THAT DAY" (6 times in Isaiah 19:16-25) - the fulfillment of these prophecies is UNDATED yet INEVITABLE. We who are in Christ experience it in part now within the Kingdom of God. We will experience it fully when our prayers are answered and His Kingdom fully comes. On that Day we will see "a great multitude that no one can number, from every nation, from all tribes and peoples and languages, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes, with palm branches in their hands, crying out with a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb!'" (Revelation 7:9-10).
God's mercy is severe in the same sense that a surgeon's knife must be sharp. His severe mercy confronts us with our sin, leading us to repentance and worship at the foot of the cross, the very altar where Jesus, the final sacrifice for sin, was stricken for our salvation.
"But what God foretold by the mouth of all the prophets, that his Christ would suffer, he thus fulfilled. Repent therefore, and turn again, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus, whom heaven must receive until the time for restoring all the things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets long ago" (Acts 3:18-21).
His MERCY is SEVERE. But make no mistake: He STRIKES that He might HEAL.
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